A College Thesis on Beating Hearts and Rabbit Eggs
Here's my first short story for Intro to Creative Writing, submitted for a grade:
College Thesis on Beating Hearts and Rabbit Eggs
Danni Kress
There was something to be said about Demon College: It wasn't Human College. For two species that hated each other so much, however, they were sometimes uncannily alike. Not many liked to admit it, however, so the two species went on in their merry ways, the worlds intersecting in the undercurrents, where few actually tread and many people wished to, but then again, not really. It was there, in the not-at-all-resembling-a-human library, that Rai sat, pouring over a book of human anatomy and wondering how humans managed to give each other their hearts without dying. It was physically impossible, yet they did it every February 14th. Why a holiday of love would be named after a religious martyr and involved ripping out hearts and had a massacre on it, he didn't think he'd ever understand, but he needed to if he was going to get this paper done for Foreign Relations.
It would be so much easier if he could spend a day, maybe a week, in the Human Realm, but it was impossible for a demon of his class to breach the worlds without serious consequences from the Powers. It simply wouldn't do for rising nobility to have the Creator descend upon him with fire in Her eyes and demand of him what the hell was going on, and then he'd have to swallow a really bad pun and explain himself. Then She would need to fix the humans who had seen him, it would be a complete mess, and he most likely would lose his status as heir to Gandalga. So instead he sat in the library, no longer focusing on his book but staring out the window, running a hand through his unnaturally black hair and tightening the ponytail at the base of his skull.
Rai's pointy ears twitched as he heard someone call his name, and he turned to see one of his friends walking up. He hurriedly closed the book and leaned on it. "Shiina. Hi."
"I know you're reading up on humans, Rai, you don't need to hide it." She leaned on the edge of his desk, slim fingers sliding the book out from his grip. She flipped through it, careful not to let her unnatural claws shred the pages, nose wrinkling. "This stinks. Is it one of the Stolen? You really got permission to use one of those?"
"Uhm." He swallowed and rubbed one of his horns sheepishly. "Yeah. Dad called in."
"Ahhhh, the King of Gandalga would do anything for his test tube boy," Shiina sighed, hugging the book to herself, a wistful look in her eye. "You think that's the reason you look so much like one?"
"Pardon?" Rai didn't really like where this was going; he never did.
"Why you look so much like a human. Except for some other features, of course." She ran a hand over one of his two fully-grown horns, hand sliding back in his hair to find the stubs of two others. He batted her arm aside, shuddering at the feeling of her claws on his scalp.
"My father is a purebred and so am I."
"Rumor has it he had a thing for a human woman around the time you were born," she pointed out. Rai rolled his eyes.
"Everyone loves to gossip, Shiina, maybe I should talk about your family? Besides, there's irrefutable proof that I was born in the Lab. It's a weird case, but it's not terribly uncommon. He needed an heir. And no human has ever set foot in Gandaulga or Dad's patrols would be all over the place." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. "Besides, Dad looks humanoid too. It's not a matter of breeding, it's a matter of class. There's a reason Ogres and Trolls barely resemble a human shape, and why Animals have a different form."
She waved a hand. "I was only kidding, lighten up! You take everything too seriously." A pause as his blue-green eyes caught hers and her lie. "What exactly are you writing on, anyway?"
"Human holidays. I finally figured Christmas and Halloween out last week. Now I'm working on the other two."
"Fascinating."
Rai let his chair fall forward, reaching out and plucking the book back from Shiina, dropping it into his bag in one smooth motion. "Have you finished your report?"
"On the Mountain Tribes east of Gnaarth? Yes. It was relatively easy." She bit her lip as he stood and shouldered his bag. "Look, Rai, I didn't-"
He held up a hand. "Don't worry about it."
"Are you busy?"
"Yeah, I'm meeting up with Yasashii tonight and we're sparring for a few hours."
Something sparked in her eyes and she leaned forward. "You spend way too much time with that weird kid."
"Shiina. Take your gossip somewhere else."
"Did I hit a nerve?" she asked hopefully. She looked like a dog awaiting a well-earned treat.
"Not even close." And all she would get was a smile and a pat on the head. He left her silently fuming and made his way back to his dorm, drawing his coat around him. Cold metal bit into his finger, and he inspected the Gandaulgan Crest engraved on his ring. A quick glance revealed that he was the only demon stupid enough to work on a Feasting Day, and he slid a fingernail under the crest to flip it up, revealing a brown hair, his eyes, and a brilliant smile.
Born in the Lab from a demon king's DNA and just a hair of a human woman Why does Dad love her so much? She looks like a normal human If he squinted, he thought he could see something in her eyes, something ancient and sad, but
He tripped up the steps and managed to pull himself from his thoughts long enough to make it into his room, where he sat and pulled his second experiment out from under the desk. The human rabbit looked at him, twitched its nose, then resumed nibbling at its food, now unperturbed by the sight of a four horned, pointy-eared, pale demon inspecting him, as he had day after day.
"Hey, Rai, you ready to g-" There was a pregnant pause as Rai's head jerked around to his best friend, who stood in his doorway, a sheathed sword in one hand and an absolutely befuddled look on his face. " .is that a human rabbit?" He brushed his long brown bangs out of his face, shaking his head. "Stupid question, of course it's a human rabbit, I saw one in Mom's backyard when I went home last weekend."
"Uhm "
"So did you steal this from the Sciences? Please tell me you stole it from the Sciences. My jackass of a Professor failed my Dismemberment Thesis when I know perfectly well how to take someone apart, Dad's kind of a master at lopping off limbs with pointy things. This would just piss him off so much."
"Yasashii "
The other demon straightened and grinned. "You did. I love you, man."
"You're not going to-"
"Tell? Do you really have to ask me? I thought we moved past that when we were kids." Yasashii shut the door and sat against the wall, cradling his sword between his arm and his ribs. "So why'd you steal it? Is this for your Foreign Relations?"
"I'm waiting for it to lay an egg."
There was another silence, this one even longer than the last, before Yasashii doubled over, laughing the hardest Rai had seen in years. Heat flooded his cheeks as his best friend pounded at the ground with a fist. "L-Lay rabbits don't they don't lay eggs, you idiot," he gasped out.
"But--! The human holiday, Easter-"
Yasa laughed so hard he actually abandoned his sword and lay sideways, nursing his stomach and trying to breathe. Rai slouched, feeling the heat creep all the way to the tips of his ears. After Yasa's howls of laughter had resided, he mumbled through a mouth full of floor, "Don't do that."
"What? Oh." Rai had forgotten about his friend's empathic abilities. "Don't make fun of me, then! I have no idea how rabbits work, I haven't taken Sciences yet."
Yasa looked up. "What was I supposed to do? You were really expecting a multicolored egg to pop out of that thing's-"
"Yasashii."
"All right, all right, you didn't know." Yasa pushed himself up, dusting off his pants and tucking his sword into the back of his belt before leaning over the desk. "So it is for your Foreign Relations. Didn't you get a lot of crap for picking humans?"
"They definitely questioned what I was thinking, but I insisted."
"Why didn't you ask me for help then?"
Rai hesitated. "It-"
"Coming from you, it wouldn't be taken personally. You're the only person here who doesn't discriminate against my heritage. The other students just think I'm weird, but the faculty knows. Like I said, my Dismemberment Thesis was failed, even though your Dad checked it for me." Yasa's hand tightened on the desk, and Rai warily watched smoke unfurl. "Nobody takes Dad's name seriously anymore."
"Desk, watch the desk, Yasashii, please don't set my desk on fire."
"Sorry." He straightened, shaking out his hand and lowering his temperature, noticing the sweat on Rai's forehead. "Was losing my temper there for a second."
"Never would have noticed," was the automatic reply. As Yasa rolled his eyes, Rai looked over his best friend again. He did look for all the world like a human, but he had the blood of a fire demon and definitely the smell of one. The only thing people like Shiina knew was that he was just odd, that there was something off.
"What's your Mom like?" The question popped out of his mouth before he could stop it, and Rai looked back the rabbit so he wouldn't have to see Yasa's face.
"She's got a temper to match Dad. She's pretty. I look a lot like her, you know." His finger tapped Rai's ring. "Been looking at yours?"
Rai's nodded.
"Don't be ashamed of it. Shiina and the others are full of absolute crap. If you wanted, you could get some bracers put on to dampen your powers so I could take you with me next time I go home. You could meet her."
"I I'll think about it."
"Right, right you've got a reputation."
" what is she like?"
"I haven't seen her in years "
"Oh." Rai tucked the rabbit under the desk, feeling foolish. He didn't know why he should care so much, anyway.
"Because you've never known what a mom's like?"
"Stop."
"I can't exactly turn off emotions, and it's hard not to feel what you are when I'm right next to you and it's rolling off of you in waves."
"So let's talk about something else."
"Shoot."
"How do Valentine's Day and Easter work?"
"We're late for our sparring session. I'll help you if you can beat me."
Rai pushed off from his desk as Yasashii opened the door and strode out. He slipped the ring off and put it on his desk, making sure the seal was firmly closed just in case. Bracers to see what's behind those eyes
He turned and shut off the light on his way out, leaving the woman behind the seal to smile brilliantly at the darkness.
College Thesis on Beating Hearts and Rabbit Eggs
Danni Kress
There was something to be said about Demon College: It wasn't Human College. For two species that hated each other so much, however, they were sometimes uncannily alike. Not many liked to admit it, however, so the two species went on in their merry ways, the worlds intersecting in the undercurrents, where few actually tread and many people wished to, but then again, not really. It was there, in the not-at-all-resembling-a-human library, that Rai sat, pouring over a book of human anatomy and wondering how humans managed to give each other their hearts without dying. It was physically impossible, yet they did it every February 14th. Why a holiday of love would be named after a religious martyr and involved ripping out hearts and had a massacre on it, he didn't think he'd ever understand, but he needed to if he was going to get this paper done for Foreign Relations.
It would be so much easier if he could spend a day, maybe a week, in the Human Realm, but it was impossible for a demon of his class to breach the worlds without serious consequences from the Powers. It simply wouldn't do for rising nobility to have the Creator descend upon him with fire in Her eyes and demand of him what the hell was going on, and then he'd have to swallow a really bad pun and explain himself. Then She would need to fix the humans who had seen him, it would be a complete mess, and he most likely would lose his status as heir to Gandalga. So instead he sat in the library, no longer focusing on his book but staring out the window, running a hand through his unnaturally black hair and tightening the ponytail at the base of his skull.
Rai's pointy ears twitched as he heard someone call his name, and he turned to see one of his friends walking up. He hurriedly closed the book and leaned on it. "Shiina. Hi."
"I know you're reading up on humans, Rai, you don't need to hide it." She leaned on the edge of his desk, slim fingers sliding the book out from his grip. She flipped through it, careful not to let her unnatural claws shred the pages, nose wrinkling. "This stinks. Is it one of the Stolen? You really got permission to use one of those?"
"Uhm." He swallowed and rubbed one of his horns sheepishly. "Yeah. Dad called in."
"Ahhhh, the King of Gandalga would do anything for his test tube boy," Shiina sighed, hugging the book to herself, a wistful look in her eye. "You think that's the reason you look so much like one?"
"Pardon?" Rai didn't really like where this was going; he never did.
"Why you look so much like a human. Except for some other features, of course." She ran a hand over one of his two fully-grown horns, hand sliding back in his hair to find the stubs of two others. He batted her arm aside, shuddering at the feeling of her claws on his scalp.
"My father is a purebred and so am I."
"Rumor has it he had a thing for a human woman around the time you were born," she pointed out. Rai rolled his eyes.
"Everyone loves to gossip, Shiina, maybe I should talk about your family? Besides, there's irrefutable proof that I was born in the Lab. It's a weird case, but it's not terribly uncommon. He needed an heir. And no human has ever set foot in Gandaulga or Dad's patrols would be all over the place." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. "Besides, Dad looks humanoid too. It's not a matter of breeding, it's a matter of class. There's a reason Ogres and Trolls barely resemble a human shape, and why Animals have a different form."
She waved a hand. "I was only kidding, lighten up! You take everything too seriously." A pause as his blue-green eyes caught hers and her lie. "What exactly are you writing on, anyway?"
"Human holidays. I finally figured Christmas and Halloween out last week. Now I'm working on the other two."
"Fascinating."
Rai let his chair fall forward, reaching out and plucking the book back from Shiina, dropping it into his bag in one smooth motion. "Have you finished your report?"
"On the Mountain Tribes east of Gnaarth? Yes. It was relatively easy." She bit her lip as he stood and shouldered his bag. "Look, Rai, I didn't-"
He held up a hand. "Don't worry about it."
"Are you busy?"
"Yeah, I'm meeting up with Yasashii tonight and we're sparring for a few hours."
Something sparked in her eyes and she leaned forward. "You spend way too much time with that weird kid."
"Shiina. Take your gossip somewhere else."
"Did I hit a nerve?" she asked hopefully. She looked like a dog awaiting a well-earned treat.
"Not even close." And all she would get was a smile and a pat on the head. He left her silently fuming and made his way back to his dorm, drawing his coat around him. Cold metal bit into his finger, and he inspected the Gandaulgan Crest engraved on his ring. A quick glance revealed that he was the only demon stupid enough to work on a Feasting Day, and he slid a fingernail under the crest to flip it up, revealing a brown hair, his eyes, and a brilliant smile.
Born in the Lab from a demon king's DNA and just a hair of a human woman Why does Dad love her so much? She looks like a normal human If he squinted, he thought he could see something in her eyes, something ancient and sad, but
He tripped up the steps and managed to pull himself from his thoughts long enough to make it into his room, where he sat and pulled his second experiment out from under the desk. The human rabbit looked at him, twitched its nose, then resumed nibbling at its food, now unperturbed by the sight of a four horned, pointy-eared, pale demon inspecting him, as he had day after day.
"Hey, Rai, you ready to g-" There was a pregnant pause as Rai's head jerked around to his best friend, who stood in his doorway, a sheathed sword in one hand and an absolutely befuddled look on his face. " .is that a human rabbit?" He brushed his long brown bangs out of his face, shaking his head. "Stupid question, of course it's a human rabbit, I saw one in Mom's backyard when I went home last weekend."
"Uhm "
"So did you steal this from the Sciences? Please tell me you stole it from the Sciences. My jackass of a Professor failed my Dismemberment Thesis when I know perfectly well how to take someone apart, Dad's kind of a master at lopping off limbs with pointy things. This would just piss him off so much."
"Yasashii "
The other demon straightened and grinned. "You did. I love you, man."
"You're not going to-"
"Tell? Do you really have to ask me? I thought we moved past that when we were kids." Yasashii shut the door and sat against the wall, cradling his sword between his arm and his ribs. "So why'd you steal it? Is this for your Foreign Relations?"
"I'm waiting for it to lay an egg."
There was another silence, this one even longer than the last, before Yasashii doubled over, laughing the hardest Rai had seen in years. Heat flooded his cheeks as his best friend pounded at the ground with a fist. "L-Lay rabbits don't they don't lay eggs, you idiot," he gasped out.
"But--! The human holiday, Easter-"
Yasa laughed so hard he actually abandoned his sword and lay sideways, nursing his stomach and trying to breathe. Rai slouched, feeling the heat creep all the way to the tips of his ears. After Yasa's howls of laughter had resided, he mumbled through a mouth full of floor, "Don't do that."
"What? Oh." Rai had forgotten about his friend's empathic abilities. "Don't make fun of me, then! I have no idea how rabbits work, I haven't taken Sciences yet."
Yasa looked up. "What was I supposed to do? You were really expecting a multicolored egg to pop out of that thing's-"
"Yasashii."
"All right, all right, you didn't know." Yasa pushed himself up, dusting off his pants and tucking his sword into the back of his belt before leaning over the desk. "So it is for your Foreign Relations. Didn't you get a lot of crap for picking humans?"
"They definitely questioned what I was thinking, but I insisted."
"Why didn't you ask me for help then?"
Rai hesitated. "It-"
"Coming from you, it wouldn't be taken personally. You're the only person here who doesn't discriminate against my heritage. The other students just think I'm weird, but the faculty knows. Like I said, my Dismemberment Thesis was failed, even though your Dad checked it for me." Yasa's hand tightened on the desk, and Rai warily watched smoke unfurl. "Nobody takes Dad's name seriously anymore."
"Desk, watch the desk, Yasashii, please don't set my desk on fire."
"Sorry." He straightened, shaking out his hand and lowering his temperature, noticing the sweat on Rai's forehead. "Was losing my temper there for a second."
"Never would have noticed," was the automatic reply. As Yasa rolled his eyes, Rai looked over his best friend again. He did look for all the world like a human, but he had the blood of a fire demon and definitely the smell of one. The only thing people like Shiina knew was that he was just odd, that there was something off.
"What's your Mom like?" The question popped out of his mouth before he could stop it, and Rai looked back the rabbit so he wouldn't have to see Yasa's face.
"She's got a temper to match Dad. She's pretty. I look a lot like her, you know." His finger tapped Rai's ring. "Been looking at yours?"
Rai's nodded.
"Don't be ashamed of it. Shiina and the others are full of absolute crap. If you wanted, you could get some bracers put on to dampen your powers so I could take you with me next time I go home. You could meet her."
"I I'll think about it."
"Right, right you've got a reputation."
" what is she like?"
"I haven't seen her in years "
"Oh." Rai tucked the rabbit under the desk, feeling foolish. He didn't know why he should care so much, anyway.
"Because you've never known what a mom's like?"
"Stop."
"I can't exactly turn off emotions, and it's hard not to feel what you are when I'm right next to you and it's rolling off of you in waves."
"So let's talk about something else."
"Shoot."
"How do Valentine's Day and Easter work?"
"We're late for our sparring session. I'll help you if you can beat me."
Rai pushed off from his desk as Yasashii opened the door and strode out. He slipped the ring off and put it on his desk, making sure the seal was firmly closed just in case. Bracers to see what's behind those eyes
He turned and shut off the light on his way out, leaving the woman behind the seal to smile brilliantly at the darkness.